School's back full-time at Apollo on Monday, but what's changed?

A small smoldering fire above the ceiling was extinguished but left a lot of smoke to evacuate.
Saint Cloud Times

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Final work is being completed Friday, Sept. 21, at Apollo High School with all of the students back on Monday. A fire damaged the school and students have been alternating days at the school and working remotely.(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)Buy Photo

ST. CLOUD — Back to school looked a whole lot different this year at Apollo High School after a construction-related fire over the summer delayed construction and caused a clean-up headache.

For the first three weeks, students attended school on an alternate-day schedule — one day at school and the next day working remotely on their devices.

Teachers attended school each day, but often had to shuffle between multiple classrooms.

Vanessa VanLaanen, a language arts teacher, has been using a cart to push her teaching materials to seven different classrooms throughout the school day. But the teachers made it work, she assured.

"We keep positive. We're keeping it rolling, literally," she said with a laugh Friday.

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Teacher Katie Dorn, special education, moves back into her room with help from Vanessa VanLaanen, language arts, Friday, Sept. 21, at Apollo High School. The entire student body will return to school on a full-time basis Monday.(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

Apollo students had the day off Friday as teachers unpacked boxes and set up their classrooms in the 400 wing of the school. All students will return to school full-time on Monday. The school day will not need to be made up later in the year.

The school was damaged by fire July 11 while crews were replacing heating and cooling systems in the middle section of the school.

While the fire only significantly damaged one classroom in the 600 wing, smoke damage affected about 40 classrooms and the media center.

Principal Al Johnson said the air quality is safe for occupancy, but crews are finishing work in the media center and classrooms on the east side of the building's middle section. Students are expected to be able to occupy the media center by Oct. 1 and additional classrooms by the middle of October.

"By Oct. 15, all but eight classrooms will be able to be used," Johnson said.

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Teacher Anna Heerts, economics and U.S. history, moves back into her classroom Friday, Sept. 21, at Apollo High School. A fire damaged the school during remodeling this summer.(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

The cause of the fire is still not available to the public. St. Cloud Fire Marshal Mike Post said Friday the investigation needs to be sent to "our legal department" before it is released to the public.

"The investigation is done. We know what caused the fire," he said.

Superintendent Willie Jett said the cost of the damage is still unknown.

The fire and its subsequent issues caused challenges. But students and teachers certainly rose to those challenges, administrators said.

"The first day we came back to school and met in the auditorium, it was like, 'What are we going to do?' It was pretty quiet and (the teachers and staff) were listening very intently," Johnson said, referring to staff meetings before school started. "Today at the staff meeting, I sat back and I really just kind of took it in because they (were) laughing.

"It was that bonding that you could tell happened over this last few weeks and it was a really good feeling," he added.

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Principal Al Johnson describes the successful process of how students worked remotely during an alternate schedule since the beginning of school on Friday, Sept. 21, at Apollo High School.(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

Lori Posch, executive director of teaching and learning for St. Cloud school district, said teachers really had a can-do attitude about the alternate schedule, even when it meant taking a deeper dive into learning about the school's online learning management system, Schoology.

"It's a huge kudos to our students and our families and our teachers," she said.

Students also benefited from the opportunity to delve into the technology.

"I didn't know you could do half the things on Schoology," said Isaac Erickson-Thoemke, a senior at Apollo.

Erickson-Thoemke said he enjoyed the alternate day schedule because he was able to sleep in a bit — until about 9 a.m. — and finish his school work in about five hours, which is less that a typical school day. Then he would come to school for football practice at about 3:15 p.m.

"I would get all my homework done before practice just like a school day," he said.

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Seniors Caitlin Peterson and Isaac Erickson-Thoemke talk about working remotely on technology devices since the start of school Friday, Sept. 21, at Apollo High School.(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

Senior Caitlin Peterson said Friday she also enjoyed the alternate-day schedule because it allowed her a college-like learning experience. While she has wireless internet available at home, Peterson said she attended Kennedy Community School a few times to meet friends.

Kennedy, Quarryview Education Center and Roosevelt Boys and Girls Club were open for students who needed wireless internet or lunch on their remote learning days.

"We would go meet there. We would chat and help each other with homework.," she said. "Once in a while we would eat lunch at Kennedy but sometimes we would go out to eat."

Both Erickson-Thoemke and Peterson said some classes, such as physics, were more difficult on their remote days because they like to ask questions during the lessons.

But technology allowed them to contact teachers and ask questions, as well as record themselves doing the homework activities. Students could then watch videos of other students completing the activity, which allowed them to learn from the other students and build new relationships that they might not have made in class, Peterson said.

Johnson said this experience allowed teachers and administrators to see how students can be more active participants in their learning.

"Our mission statement is preparing students to be successful in today's and tomorrow's society and I think utilizing the alternative schedule where students were on Schoology every other day gives them a great taste for it," Johnson said.

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Areas of the former district administrative offices have been converted to classrooms shown Friday, Sept. 21, at Apollo High School.(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

Although he enjoyed the remote schoolwork, Erickson-Theomke said he is looking forward to having all the students return to school Monday, especially with the kickoff to homecoming week next Friday. If it were still the alternate-day schedule, underclassmen would have missed a pep fest, Erickson-Thoemke said.

"It will be nice to have everyone present during that," he said. "I'm excited to have everyone back finally."

Jett said he is grateful for how the students, staff, families and community responded following the fire.

"It was not just the school district. It was an entire community coming together during a catastrophic moment," Jett said.